Looks like Granato is not liking the QPC line as much recently...

[grinreaper]

45 minutes ago, ... said:

Interesting take on Granato and a very valid point. What do you think of the timeout last night?

It seemed like Granato had a good read on what was going on and thought that he'd better settle the team down and try to get them back on track. 

[PerreaultForever]

5 hours ago, K-9 said:

Playing with Mitts and VO is such a worse opportunity for Cozens as opposed to playing with Quinn and JJP, so yeah, it’s a demotion from where I’m standing. 

No way. "worse opportunity". As much as sometimes it feels that way this isn't hockey school. It's the NHL and it's about winning games not just giving players opportunities. If Cozens TOI drops drastically I will believe you, but it won't. 

4 hours ago, ... said:

Interesting take on Granato and a very valid point. What do you think of the timeout last night?

It was a decent move. Young team, needed a moment to settle down. I liked what he did there. 

[K-9]

1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:

No way. "worse opportunity". As much as sometimes it feels that way this isn't hockey school. It's the NHL and it's about winning games not just giving players opportunities. If Cozens TOI drops drastically I will believe you, but it won't. 

It was a decent move. Young team, needed a moment to settle down. I liked what he did there. 

I’m not saying his TOI is gonna drop at all. I’m saying that by playing with Mitts and VO, Cozens is playing with two lesser players than Quinn and Peterka. And those two lesser players have shown they are a disaster when paired together to boot. 

[JohnC]

6 hours ago, K-9 said:

I’m not saying his TOI is gonna drop at all. I’m saying that by playing with Mitts and VO, Cozens is playing with two lesser players than Quinn and Peterka. And those two lesser players have shown they are a disaster when paired together to boot. 

I've heard Granato talk about Mitts on a number of occasions on WGR. My impression is that he has a belief that Mitts has talent, and as a coach it his responsibility to unlock that talent where can translate it into production. Is the coach chasing fool's gold? I'm not sure? On more than a few occasions he has stated that Mitts was one of the best players in training camp two years ago. Then he got hurt and never got back on that upward trajectory that he appeared to be on. 

When DG put Krebs on the Girgs and Okposo line I thought that was an odd decision and line fit. It turned out to be an insightful move that altered how Krebs played for the better. I'm hoping that this very open-minded coach, who is constantly experimenting to put players in a position to succeed, can find the right formula to get Mitts on the right track. 

With a player such as Mitts I have not made any conclusive judgments about him. My sense is that the organization is going to allow the player to play and give them opportunity to prove whether they should be in the organization's plans or not. My position about the player is that I just don't know?????

[Marvin]

42 minutes ago, JohnC said:

I've heard Granato talk about Mitts on a number of occasions on WGR. My impression is that he has a belief that Mitts has talent, and as a coach it his responsibility to unlock that talent where can translate it into production. Is the coach chasing fool's gold? I'm not sure? On more than a few occasions he has stated that Mitts was one of the best players in training camp two years ago. Then he got hurt and never got back on that upward trajectory that he appeared to be on. 

When DG put Krebs on the Girgs and Okposo line I thought that was an odd decision and line fit. It turned out to be an insightful move that altered how Krebs played for the better. I'm hoping that this very open-minded coach, who is constantly experimenting to put players in a position to succeed, can find the right formula to get Mitts on the right track. 

With a player such as Mitts I have not made any conclusive judgments about him. My sense is that the organization is going to allow the player to play and give them opportunity to prove whether they should be in the organization's plans or not. My position about the player is that I just don't know?????

Your post is why I thought juggling the bottom 9 forwards might work for everyone on the team.

[Pimlach]

23 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

No, I don't think so. Cozens has been the driving force of that line and has carried the two rookies many times. 

The conundrum is perhaps that he sees (and uses) the 2-way abilities of Cozens and wants him matched against the other team's top centers but that puts the 2 kids up against top players and their 2 -way game simply isn't there (yet). Cozens can lead a primary scoring line but he can't do everything at once. 

The odd thing for me is he seems to be stuck on the idea of turning Mitts into a 2-way player and I just don't see it. Maybe it's just for a lack of alternatives at the moment. 

The kid line works at home because Granato gets the matchup he wants, and he lets them fly.    Conversely, on the road and against stronger teams the matchups became undesirable.  So, the rookies have their butts stapled to the bench.  
 

Our problem is Mitts and VO do not have a two-way game either.  My question, why not play Asplund more?  Especially on the road games.  

Edited December 21, 2022 by Pimlach

[Pimlach]

1 hour ago, JohnC said:

I've heard Granato talk about Mitts on a number of occasions on WGR. My impression is that he has a belief that Mitts has talent, and as a coach it his responsibility to unlock that talent where can translate it into production. Is the coach chasing fool's gold? I'm not sure? On more than a few occasions he has stated that Mitts was one of the best players in training camp two years ago. Then he got hurt and never got back on that upward trajectory that he appeared to be on. 

When DG put Krebs on the Girgs and Okposo line I thought that was an odd decision and line fit. It turned out to be an insightful move that altered how Krebs played for the better. I'm hoping that this very open-minded coach, who is constantly experimenting to put players in a position to succeed, can find the right formula to get Mitts on the right track. 

With a player such as Mitts I have not made any conclusive judgments about him. My sense is that the organization is going to allow the player to play and give them opportunity to prove whether they should be in the organization's plans or not. My position about the player is that I just don't know?????

I think Mitts will play his fair share of minutes and continue along as is.  He will then will be traded at the deadline.  Before they trade him they are going to be giving him every opportunity to show he fits before they decide he doesn’t.  He is getting every chance possible because they want him to work out.  

[Marvin]

25 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

The kid line works at home because Granato gets the matchup he wants and he lets them fly.    Conversely, on the road and against stronger teams the matchup were undesirable.  So the rookies has their butts stapled to the bench.  
 

Our problem is Mitts and VO do not have a two way game either.  My question, Why not play Asplund more?  Especially on the road games.  

So a road line-up and home line-up?  Hinostroza and Asplund play mostly against top teams and/or on the road while Peterka and Quinn play mostly against lesser teams and/or at home?

Also, as someone mentioned in the last GDT, the third period was the first time where Granato shortened his bench and really tried to line match.  So he and the team are transitioning from training mode to winning mode.

[Pimlach]

7 minutes ago, Marvin said:

So a road line-up and home line-up?  Hinostroza and Asplund play mostly against top teams and/or on the road while Peterka and Quinn play mostly against lesser teams and/or at home?

Also, as someone mentioned in the last GDT, the third period was the first time where Granato shortened his bench and really tried to line match.  So he and the team are transitioning from training mode to winning mode.

Not necessarily against better or worse teams.  DG did not like the matchups in Vegas because he didn’t get the final change.  Asplund plays a solid 200 foot game so dress him in games with these unfavorable matchups.  Hinostroza, I’m  not sure about. 
 

I am telling DG to think ahead on his lineup so you don’t have 2 forwards on the bench providing no support.  

[French Collection]

13 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Not necessarily against better or worse teams.  DG did not like the matchups in Vegas because he didn’t get the final change.  Asplund plays a solid 200 foot game so dress him in games with these unfavorable matchups.  Hinostroza, I’m  not sure about. 
 

I am telling DG to think ahead on his lineup so you don’t have 2 forwards on the bench providing no support.  

Asplund would have been a good resource for the third period vs Vegas.

I still think Mitts or VO could sit out a game to get a kick in the a..

[triumph_communes]

Mittelstadt just needs to stop playing video games on game days and take long naps before the game. His game is in his head he’s burning up all his brain chemicals before hitting the ice. Sucks he will probably be out of the league before he figures this out. 

[JohnC]

4 hours ago, Marvin said:

Your post is why I thought juggling the bottom 9 forwards might work for everyone on the team.

The only line that is not going to get touched is the top line, for obvious reasons. Sometimes lines get stale in their play. So changing the mix can invigorate the fading line and give the jumbled players a fresh/different landscape in how they play with different players. DG is good at juggling lines and giving players different roles just to re-energize them. I don't want to overstate the placing of Krebs on the line with older players, but it resulted in altering how he played. He went from being a young player who was often watching the games in the team suite to becoming a more focused player who played a tighter and tougher game.  

[JohnC]

Attached is a WGR link and within the link is a 19 min interview with Don G. In this interview he was asked about the Makar incident of waving off a penalty. His response was intriguing and a little surprising to me. The more one listens to him the more one has an appreciation on what his philosophy is in coaching players. I'm such a fan of his. 

I didn't want to start another topic and thought this link would be relevant to the current topic. If this link is on another post, I apologize for the redundancy. 

https://www.audacy.com/wgr550/authors/howard-and-jeremy-show

[PerreaultForever]

14 hours ago, K-9 said:

I’m not saying his TOI is gonna drop at all. I’m saying that by playing with Mitts and VO, Cozens is playing with two lesser players than Quinn and Peterka. And those two lesser players have shown they are a disaster when paired together to boot. 

But, that's not a demotion for Cozens. It's Granato's attempt to elevate Mitts and VO by giving them a better center. If that line holds, they are the second line in terms of TOI. Nothing changes for Cozens, he still goes up against top opposition. TOI will decrease for Quinn and Peterka so it's a demotion for them not Cozens. 

[PerreaultForever]

6 hours ago, Pimlach said:

The kid line works at home because Granato gets the matchup he wants and he lets them fly.    Conversely, on the road and against stronger teams the matchup were undesirable.  So the rookies has their butts stapled to the bench.  
 

Our problem is Mitts and VO do not have a two way game either.  My question, Why not play Asplund more?  Especially on the road games.  

To some extent that's true, but I also think it has to do with which team(s) we play. The more the opposition team plays shutdown hockey (Cassidy style hockey) the less effective the rookies are at this point. 

I hear you on Mitts and VO but I'd assume Granato feels their greater amount of experience makes them more valuable in a defensive style game. I'm not convinced it'll work, as I agree with you they aren't that good at the 2 way game either but Asplund hasn't impressed me either. We have some solid players now, and it looks like real competitive hockey, but the roster is still thin and drops off fast after the first half of it or so. I'm not sure there is a better option at this point. 

[K-9]

16 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

But, that's not a demotion for Cozens. It's Granato's attempt to elevate Mitts and VO by giving them a better center. If that line holds, they are the second line in terms of TOI. Nothing changes for Cozens, he still goes up against top opposition. TOI will decrease for Quinn and Peterka so it's a demotion for them not Cozens. 

I don’t care if Cozens gets more ice time, he is now saddled with two worse players. I view that as a negative for him. And we are talking past each other, so never mind. 

[Taro T]

7 hours ago, Pimlach said:

The kid line works at home because Granato gets the matchup he wants and he lets them fly.    Conversely, on the road and against stronger teams the matchup were undesirable.  So the rookies has their butts stapled to the bench.  
 

Our problem is Mitts and VO do not have a two way game either.  My question, Why not play Asplund more?  Especially on the road games.  

Except that since the Joisey game, Granato has been treating that line as the #2 which in his version of lineup matching faces the other team's top line at home or on the road.   Maybe they're facing the other team's top D more often (but if they wre Thompson's line should be even hotter l but don't notice which pairs they're out against as teadily/easily.

[Pimlach]

4 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Except that since the Joisey game, Granato has been treating that line as the #2 which in his version of lineup matching faces the other team's top line at home or on the road.   Maybe they're facing the other team's top D more often (but if they wre Thompson's line should be even hotter l but don't notice which pairs they're out against as teadily/easily.

Doesn't matter how the lines are numbered.  Granato has said he did not like the matchups with The Kid Line versus both AZ and LV - he did not have the last change to address it.  

If LV wanted their top defense on The Kid Line and not The TNT Line that would have been a good thing.  

 

[Pimlach]

5 hours ago, triumph_communes said:

Mittelstadt just needs to stop playing video games on game days and take long naps before the game. His game is in his head he’s burning up all his brain chemicals before hitting the ice. Sucks he will probably be out of the league before he figures this out. 

Well back in the day they smoked cigarettes and drank a lot of beer, so video games do not seem so bad.